Indians Willing To Trade Cliff Lee?

Good call on the Indians part. Lee will never repeat his Cy Young year. If he signs an extension it should be in the range of what other solid 3-4 pitchers sign for.

I wonder what they'd want for him. They'd be crazy to expect a package like what they got for CC.

Halladay, Peavy, and now Lee... there could be some veeeerrry good pitching on the market this summer.

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lol
Who would give up anything for one year wonder? Average pitchers are a dime a dozen.
Only teams stupid enough to give up somethign, Giants and Yankees.

Lee will fetch a decent amount in return especially considering there is an affordable option for next year.

I don't think anyone expects him to bounce back to his '08 form, but the guy is a solid 2 or 3 starter, an innings-eater and has the ability to dominate when he is at the top of his game.

this is ridiculous. could you not say this about literally ANY team in this economy? especially a team with any player of any value with one year left on a contract?

I have it from my sources that if the Indians fall out of the race that they will not be in contention.... is that a story too?

Who would give up anything for one year wonder? Average pitchers are a dime a dozen.
Only teams stupid enough to give up somethign, Giants and Yankees.

I do not understand why people call the Yankees "stupid". They have never made a blunder trade in recent years. Sure they overpay for their players, but when you are the richest time in baseball, you can afford to do that.

Reds need a lefty. Reds have good pitching, and no hitting. Owings keeps blowing it. A possibility is adding to the strength.

Take out Owings, who is currently the weakest link in the rotation. Ship the Indians Owings/Bailey and some of our good infield prospects in the High-As and Double-A. Solidifying the rotation will help the Reds even if the hitting doesnt pick it up.

Does anyone think that the mets may have a play in cliff lee because everyone behind johan are not reliable?

If so what may it take and ryan church daniel murphy or a prospects.

"If so what may it take and ryan church daniel murphy or a prospects."

Why would the Indians want Church? They have too many outfielders. Francisco, Crowe, Sizemore, Choo, LaPorta, etc. Four starting caliber guys for three spots, along with other prospect types. Murphy would make sense, as a 3B, but do the Mets want to give him up? I think any Lee deal has to have pitching in it. Expect Brad Holt to be the centerpiece of any deal.

"BTW,
how about this? angels aybar, moseley for lee.
or angels send aybar, willits and pitch-prospect for lee, crowe
(either way, injuns make peralta an LF)"

No.

I don't see the Angels getting Lee unless they're willing to part with Jordan Walden.

could see the Cubs in on this, would allow them to move Marshall into bullpen to take over for Cotts.

I wouldn't at all be surprised to see Webb get dealt this summer. Maybe to the Rangers or Red Sox.

I wouldn't want Cliff Lee, I want either Halladay or Peavy. Probably give Murphy and Holt, possibly a few lower level prospects like Havens or Mejia

Here's a question. If the Indians are way out of it by the All-Star break and they decide to trade Lee, should they then tear the whole thing down and maybe build around Sizemore? I mean their pitching is a far cry away from the staff that took them w/in a game of the WS in 2007.

Hafner seems recovered and if he posts all-star caliber numbers by the break then teams might be wiling to pick up his 3/37 mil might be moveable for some prospects, especially if the Indians cover 7 mil of the deal.

Martinez could be traded to a team looking for a good offensive C who has an affordable $7 mil option for 2010 and then can walk as a FA and probably draw a 1st rnd comp pick.

Kerry Wood can be a good pickup for a team looking for a closer at 10 mil for 2009 and 2010.

Peralta is a good offensive minded SS owed only 2/12 for 2010 and 2011.

Mark Derosa is a great pickup for a team making a playoff run later this year and can walk after the season.

Pavano, Shoppach, Francisco, Westbrook, Choo, Garko and Cabrera are all relatively inexpensive pieces that teams would love to acquire for a mulitude of reasons, either long term or for a penant run this year.

Sizemore would obviously be their biggest trade chip but he's such a fan favorite and is signed at a very team friendly deal thru 2012. People would riot in the streets of East 9th if he were traded like many other fan favorites like Thome, Manny and Omar.

If the Indians are a sub .500 team by June 15th then I see no reason to hold on to Hafner, Martinez or Lee. They could get some nice prospects for them to match up with Matt Laporta, Carlos Santana, Adam Miller and others.

Are you serious?

What is wrong with you people...

For the LAST Time

Cliff Lee:

2004: 14-8, 5.43 ERA (1st Full Season as Starter)
2005: 18-5, 3.79 ERA (Cy Young Candidate)
2006: 14-11, 4.40 ERA
2007: 5-8, 6.29 ERA
2008: 22-3, 2.54 ERA

In five full seasons, Lee has a 73-35 record for a mediocre team, along with 1 Cy Young Trophy and another year of being in the running for the honor.

Yet, you people still come with this "One year wonder" garbage. If anything, his 2007 struggles were his "one year wonder"

I won't argue Lee as the best pitcher in baseball, or even in the top 10, but to talk about him being "average" is just plain ignorant.

Just because you aren't educated enough about baseball to know him before last year doesn't mean he's a "One year wonder." He's a productive pitcher that all 31 teams would love to have bought low on, kudos to the Tribe for not panicking with a trade in 2007.
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Cliff Lee enjoyed the benefit of a lot of run support throughout most of his career. On about 15 teams in baseball he would probably be their #3 starter. In no way does that mean he's garbage, but he's only had 1 dominant year. Unless he can show us now that last year wasn't a fluke then no team will form over an elite prospect like that of which was given for Sabathia.

"Talk about off to a bad start....Peavy is too!!"

A 3.74 FIP, 8.89 K/9, 2.89 K/BB, and 45% groundball rate is not a bad start. At all.

And you could say the same for Lee, who's posted a 3.96 FIP in his first four starts, despite a drastically decreased groundball rate.

People really struggle with concepts like external factors and sample size.

As for trading Lee, I think that the Indians really should strongly consider it if they can land a good haul. They have a ton of really good young positional talent coming up through the system, but their young pitching is pretty lacking. If Lee could land them a couple very good pitching prospects, then they should probably consider it. Going long term with Fausto Carmona and Anthony Reyes topping your rotation is simply poor management.

The Phils definitely have the pieces to go out and land an ace, possibly someone to replace the overrated, wife-beating Brett Myers when he leaves after this season.

Between Carrasco, Brown, Donald, Taylor, Drabek, D'Arnaud, Marson, and company, the Phils definitely are capable of making a quality trade offer.

The only pitcher I would break the bank on is Halladay. Peavy maybe, but how he is pitching right now, no.

I would say Sizemore is more of a leader right now. I'm happy to see VMac healthy and hitting for power right now. He might be the best hitting catcher in the AL when healthy. He's more likely to hit for a higher avg than Posada and he definetly has more power than Mauer. I definetly feel that there's no rush to trade anybody of signifigance this year because of the division they play in, but if they did decide to ship out a catcher it would make sense to trade VMac over Shoppach because they'll save more money and get more in return for Vmac than they would for Shoppach. If Vmac is posting all-star caliber numbers by July he could definelty fetch a haul of based upon at least 1 blue chip prospect and probably 2 mid-level prospects with upside.

Cleveland will probably compete this year so there will be no need to trade Lee. If the Indians do fall out of contention and trade Lee they of course will not get the return of someone like Halladay or Peavy, since Lee is obviously not in the same class as those two. However Lee would be a good addition to any team, and would likely give Cleveland a useful prospect. Lee is probably an average or slighty above average #2 pitcher. (he's probably not a top 20 pitcher, but is certainly a top 50 pitcher).

There's no way in the world the Indians would cop a pitching prospect on the levele of a Hughes or Bucholz. Both of those guys project to be as good as Lee within the next 3 years. Lee is a good pitcher but he hasn't proved he can duplicate those results on the regular. Now, more likely, the Indians might be able to score a high upside pitcher currently in low A ball who might be 3 or 4 years away from DEBUTING in the majors, especially if a team is desperate for IMMEDIATE pitching (i.e the Angels).